What does it mean to beat an olive tree?

Beating the olive tree with a long pole is an ancestral technique which has been used by producers for centuries. We could define it as a type of ‘combing’ the tree so that the olives fall onto the blankets placed underneath.

What do you do with olives once harvested?

Place the olives into a large container and fill with fresh water until the olives are covered. Change the water every day, for 10-12 days. Drain the olives and place them in layers in an airtight container with lots of oregano, thickly sliced lemon, garlic to taste and sliced firm green chilli.

Why do they harvest olives at night?

The olive trees are stripped of their fruit at night because cool temperatures help preserve the aromatic compounds, according to an editorial piece written in Nature.

How are olives harvested and processed?

Traditionally, picking olives is done by hand, even in commercial groves. Today, more growers use modern machinery to help them harvest the crop. At the lowest end of the spectrum, this may only mean using a long handled, vibrating tong to shake the olives from the branches and onto nets spread out under the tree.

Is olive picking hard work?

Olive picking can involve long days picking olives off trees while on ladders or reaching in awkward places. It can get quite challenging reaching to the top of trees picking the olives and loading them into a container. The key is maintain your balance pick fast but also smart.

Can you eat olives straight off the tree?

Are olives edible off the branch? While olives are edible straight from the tree, they are intensely bitter. Olives contain oleuropein and phenolic compounds, which must be removed or, at least, reduced to make the olive palatable.

Do birds eat olives from trees?

Olives are a good source of energy for birds, being rich in oil, and a wide variety of European birds from thrushes to finches consume the fleshy fruit in the Mediterranean (Levinson & Levinson 1984). Tearing flesh from fallen olives, not dispersing seeds.

Are birds killed when olives are harvested?

Olives are frequently harvested at night as the cooler temperatures preserve their aromatic flavors. “Suction olive harvesting at night kills these legally protected birds on a catastrophic scale as they rest in the bushes,” researchers Luis da Silva and Vanessa Mata wrote in an open letter to the journal Nature.

Which olive oil is bird friendly?

In May 2019 research from Portugal’s Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests estimated that millions of birds were being killed around the Mediterranean as a result of super-intensive, night-time olive harvesting….Which oil is bird friendly?

Do birds eat olives off the tree?

What time of year are olives harvested in Greece?

November
Most olives are harvested starting in November, just as the fruit turns from greenish to purple-black. The best time to pick is when the fruit is three-quarters black. It is then that the best bouquet and lowest acidity are achieved. Once picked, the fruit is placed in baskets or sacks and carted out of the field.

How do they harvest olives in Greece?

They use the traditional method, in which nets are laid around trees to catch the falling olives. Long sticks are then used to strike the branches and knock off any stubborn olives. Guests are invited to ask questions and learn about the olive harvesting process.

What happens to olives after they are harvested?

Ideally, after they are harvested, the olives will be stored in their crates for just a day before they are brought to the frantoio. At the mill, local farmers, friends and helpers meet and chat about their yield, the weather and how this year’s harvest compares with last.

Why are olives not good for cooking?

Like Italy’s beloved wine grapes, olives do not go well with mechanization. It’s a fact that the quality of the oil decreases with the increase of mechanization and electric tools because the more gently the olives are treated the better the resulting oil.

Why can’t you pick olives in rain?

It’s impossible to pick olives in rain, wind, or fog for many reasons: besides the obvious dangers and difficulties of climbing trees and ladders in wind and rain, moisture can cause the olives to spoil in their crates before they are taken to the mill, or frantoio, for pressing.

Do olives need to be cured before eating?

If harvested for eating they need to be handled with care; handpicking is essential as damaged fruit will usually not survive the curing process. For edibility, olives are processed, or “cured,” to remove the oleuropein, which is found in the leaves and fruit of the tree.